Churchill Brothers' title aspirations received a huge blow when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Haywards Sporting an eighth National Football League match at the Nehru stadium in Margao, Goa, on Tuesday.

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Haywards, who enjoyed dominance over Churchill in the second half, took the lead in the 20th minute through a counter attack when Dudu Omagbemi, on the left flank, snatched the ball from defender Feroz and laid a pass to advancing Jerose Oliveira, who made no mistake in finding the net.

Churchill started aggressively in the first half but failed to score as Yakubu and Benjamin Ansah shot wide off the target.

Yakubu, the NF's leading scorer, finally made amends for his earlier lapse when he found the equaliser in the 49^th minutes off a lob by defender Osamanu Husseini which caught the entire defence napping.

Following the draw, Churchill move to second place with 29 points from 16 matches, two points adrift of leaders East Bengal, who have played a match less.

Haywards Sporting have 23 points from 16 matches.